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Sony has done it with the RX1

Sony has made a milestone and a market-changer in compact digital photography. A 24MP fullframe sensor with retro design and a Zeiss lens in an extremely compact size - that's nice!. Wonderfully simple rings for adjusting focus and aperture, plus a variety of settings courtesy of a few dials - a real picture-machine!. Serious photographers carry a ton of equipment, but for many years press and street photographers has used the Leica M system, to get maximum quality in a compact and discrete camera, but now Sony has made an affordable fullframe alternative with a 35mm f/2 lens - the perfect lens for photojournalism and everyday photography.

The Sony RX1 will sell for a wallet wincing $2,800, yes its expensive but what is the alternative?.

Press

For the first time, all the benefits of full-frame digital photography are available in a palm-sized compact camera.

“The new Cyber-shot RX1 is truly ‘one of a kind’, offering a unique combination of size and performance that’s never before been realized in the world of digital cameras,” said Yosuke Tomoda, director of the Cyber-shot camera business at Sony Electronics. “With its highly advanced sensor and fast 35mm f/2.0 lens packed into a small, portable camera body, professionals, enthusiasts and advanced hobbyists can experience the world of full-frame imaging in new and different ways than they ever thought possible.”

Sony RX1 compared with a Nikon D700

The new camera’s unified lens and body design allows performance that few interchangeable lenses can match. The Carl Zeiss lens not only delivers spectacular image quality all the way to the edges of each frame, it incorporates a near-silent in-lens shutter and is far more compact than comparable lenses of interchangeable design. The camera also features full manual control options and an intuitive user interface, making it easy for photographers to adjust all settings quickly and easily.

The 35mm full-frame sensor inside the RX1 camera more than doubles the area of APS-C sensors commonly found in much bulkier DSLR cameras, allowing it to take in significantly more light while capturing content. With an effective resolution of 24.3 megapixels, it’s capable of resolving the finest image details and most subtle textures for rich color reproduction and an impressively broad dynamic range.

The large sensor size also boosts the camera’s sensitivity range to a generous ISO 100 – 25600, with the option to shoot as low as ISO 50 in expanded sensitivity mode. Similarly, ISO settings as high as 102400 can be achieved using Multi Frame Noise Reduction. This allows the camera to capture natural, low noise handheld images in near-dark conditions without needing flash.

The fast, bright Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 35mm lens is a versatile choice for portraits, street photography and everyday shooting. This premium lens features newly designed optics including an Advanced Aspherical (AA) glass element, which contributes to the camera’s extremely compact dimensions without sacrificing optical performance.